I was 35 and still relatively young but life felt listless, constrained by sameness, the spontaneity and fun life seemed had when I was younger seemed to have disappeared.

I was stuck in a rut! I’d lost my enthusiasm, vigour and confidence but something within me told me there was more to life.

It seemed like a bigger adventure was calling me, I’d no idea what it was, but I had to follow the feeling and find out. It’s been hell at times, but I wouldn’t go back to the safety of the harbour.

Does this make any sense to you?

I ask because the image is the advert placed in The Times in London in 1914 by Ernest Shackleton, a British Explorer, recruiting men for his expedition to Antarctica.

THOUSANDS of men applied…if you saw that today would you?

Britain in the early 1900’s was a hard place to live, men were tough, they were used to long cold winters, demanding physical jobs and limited resources.

But this was an invitation to possible death, yet still apparently 5000 applied.

I wonder was it the recognition and honor they sought that sold it? Perhaps but I’d also suggest what attracted these men was the call of adventure.

It comes in all shapes and sizes, offering an opportunity to explore new frontiers, combined with the thrill, anxiety and excitement of taking on a new challenge.

This is what life’s about isn’t it?

And if you’ve ever felt stuck in a rut, like something was missing from your life, you’ve probably yearned for adventure too, although you may not have called it this. You may have felt demotivated, even depressed longing for a spark of excitement to reignite your life.

If you were feeling like this in 1914, Shackleton’s bold history-making goal to walk across the Antarctic continent, might just have been the thing you were looking for.

Although things didn’t go to plan, the expedition with a mission of exploration, soon became about survival as they became stranded in tents, for long periods in arctic, inhospitable conditions.

Fortunately 25 out of 28 men returned, however without the honor and recognition promised. The first world war, which was being fought hard across Europe took any media attention they may have received.

Most of these men went straight into battle, many dying and sustaining injury. They had a tough few years, enduring conditions I cannot begin to imagine, but they certainly found adventure.

Ernest Shackleton’s grand vision, vague as it was, imbued an intoxicating sense of adventure which men throughout history have sought.

For the average man like you and me, we may not be driven to explore unknown terrain with no hope of return, but the pull of adventure, whatever that means to you, still stirs in our bellies.

You don’t have to cross continents, scale the highest mountains or discover new exotic creatures or lands to satisfy this urge, but none the less it needs quenching, otherwise life can feel lacking in excitement and purpose. Without adventure we’re just going through the motions, limiting life to the mundane.

Adventure is relative, to you it may mean writing a book, changing career, starting a business, building your own home, living in a foreign country, running a marathon etc etc

Whatever it means to you, at it’s core it will push you outside your current reality and normal environment, so you can evolve, to me this is the real purpose of adventure.

The deepening understanding of ourselves that we acquire in the process of stepping up in our lives.

George Mallory, who attempted the first ascent of Everest said this about adventure…

“What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.”

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